Extravagant Giving: Crossing the line in following Jesus in Generosity?

Extravagant Giving: Crossing the line in following Jesus in Generosity?

Extravagant giving is all the through the Bible. The freewill offerings talked about in the Leviticus. The widow who Elijah asked to feed him with her little. The offerings David brought for the temple to be constructed. The entire book of Haggai. The woman who broke her alabaster jar over the feet of Jesus. The widow who gave her last two coins at the offering in the Temple.In Acts those who received the saving grace of God freely sold land and goods to bring offerings to God. At one time the apostle Paul organised the new churches throughout Asia and Greece to take up an extravagant offering for the church in Jerusalem that was facing hard economic times; 2 Corinthians 8-9 speak of this offering and give us some understanding for extravagant giving.

Extravagant giving is in response to grace we have received in Jesus Christ; and we are encouraged to excel in this grace of giving.
Extravagant offerings are given freely and willingly as our declaration of where our heart is.
Extravagant giving is generous according to what we have not what we don’t have. Each offering is unique to our current state of material affairs. This years can’t be compared with last year, mine can’t be compared with yours.
Extravagant giving is from an eagerness to help, not reluctantly given.
Extravagant giving trusts that Jesus Christ is able and willing to supply all our needs according to his riches in heaven; to make all grace abound to us.
Extravagant giving is always looking to enlarge our harvest of righteousness. (2 Corinthians 9:6-15)

We believe that believers should make a commitment to bring a regular offering to the local church; like the tithe; this offering is to enable the day to day operations of the church community. We also believe it is good to bring the occasional extravagant offering to challenge the grip that money seems to get on our souls, and to testify to our freedom from the love of money, the grip of mammon.

Two reasons for having an extravagant offering at Unite Church.
1. To stretch our faith in giving to Jesus Christ, a gift that declares we serve the God of creation and seek first his kingdom, and are free from devotion to Money. (Matthew 6:24)
2. To bring an offering that partners in extending the kingdom of God.

Unite Church’s 2016 Extravagant Offering is on May 29th.
A card will be handed out on which each person can note the amount of their extravagant offering. The offering can be given on that Sunday, or deposited directly into the bank a/c with ‘extra’ in the reference: a/c 01 0702 0017237 02. We would ask that all offerings pledged would be given by the end of June. We do not want people burdening themselves with pledges they cannot give within this time limit. Our priority in using this offering is the Pavilion project.

Unite is on an exciting challenging journey partnering with our God in his harvest fields; and this offering is a significant step on that journey. We are confident it will assist in Unite reaching more people with the gospel. Thankyou for bringing your best in this years extravagant offering.